WWI Air Combat - flight sim news, downloads, and pictures

In addition to the Fokker Dr. 1 and the Sopwith Camel being released, there are many comments with people claiming this patch also fixes the "stuttering" issue, which has been driving some foks crazy. For the next patch, LOFT says it should be an "interesting update", so stay tuned for that!

Here's the patch notes:

New Features:

- Fokker Dr. I added to the game and available for purchase.- Sopwith Camel added to the game and available for purchase.- New summer textures added.- AI: New maneuver “hook turn” for close air combat added.- AI: New maneuver “rolling” for close air combat added.- PLANES: Blip switch added. Key assignment by default is: Shift + E.- GUI: “Fly now” option added to the main menu.- GRAPHICS: Cartridge belt disappears when out of ammo on Albatros D.Va, Pfalz D.IIIa.- GRAPHICS: Radiator pressure cap added to Pfalz D.XII.- STATS: Destroyed wagons are now counted in statistics.- DOCUMENTATION: Rise of Flight Mission Editor Manual now available.

Changes/Fixes:

- AI: AI pilot shooting accuracy decreased.- AI: AI gunner shooting accuracy decreased.- AI: AI fighters no longer flee from a close fight.- PLANES: Landing gear does not jam when lower wing is damaged.- PLANES: Fokker D.VII now touches ground surface when standing.- PLANES: Planes are now controlled by the lower ailerons when upper ones are damaged.- PLANES: Force Feedback joysticks don’t get stuck in extreme positions when elevator is damaged.- PLANES: Nosed-over planes no longer jump.- GRAPHICS: Sopwith Dolphin’s sideslip indicator animation fixed.- NETWORK: Pilots with empty machineguns can no longer shoot.- GUI: Corrections made to German version.- GUI: Corrections made to French version.- GUI: Corrections made to Spanish version.- GUI: Corrections made to English version.- GUI: Corrections made to Russian version.

The Fokker Dr. 1 and the Sopwith Camel, what many thought should have been included in Rise of Flight by default, are now coming in the upcoming patch 1.008! Neoqb's Lefty says the patch it due late October, which is essentially next week.

More details about 1.008 will be revealed when the patch is released.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on these new and truly amazing screenshots (click for higher quality). And if you're still not satiated, check out some of the old videos with the Camel and Dr. 1 from when the game was still in development (scroll to the bottom under "Related videos").

Flying Samurai is (so far) the work of four students who are working on the game as a university project. It looks like they have a lot of the core programming done, and now all they need is the help of the WWI community. to flesh out the rest of the game

In particular, they are looking for testers, historians, blueprint researchers, artists and modelers. In addition to this, they're looking for photos to help with accurately modeling the aircraft.

The game is aimed towards realism, and while it's not and
probably never will be really realistic, it's definitely not meant to
be an arcade game. Currently, it contains career mode and
single player mode and 5 mission types (ace dogfight, patrol the front,
escort & raid bombarders, squadron dogfight; no further mission
types are currently planned).

The career mode is almost fully
configurable... squadrons, airfields, nations, sides (Allied vs.
Entente), pilots, airplanes, map, front, awards, ranks... all of that
is configurable, and where it makes sense, a time dependency
has been introduced (pilots get assigned to different squadrons,
airfields may change locations, front might move; although, currently,
pilots only have one default airplane for the whole war).

We're
currently working on AI and a network mode (LAN, but
will try our best to make it fast enough for the Internet), also
working on improving and finishing other aspects (menu, career,
graphics, etc.). There is joystick support and there's is a huge, continuous, terrain (500x400 km)

WWI seems to definitely be making a revival of sorts in the sim world. As mods to WWII games go, we have of course Over Flanders Fields (mod for Microsoft Combat Flight Sim 3) as well as the more recent Canvas Knights, which is a mod in development for IL2 Sturmovik.

We are pleased
to announce an upcoming expansion to the Aces High plane set that will
introduce World War I (WWI) air combat to the skies of Aces High. The
initial four plane set will consist of the Fokker Dr.I, Sopwith Camel,
Bristol F.2B, and Fokker D.VII.

These
new planes will be available in a separate WWI dogfight arena and will
also be available for special events. They will be the first planes to
use a new damage system with greatly expanded capability.

Release of the WWI planes is expected before the end of the year although it will not be in the next version release.